


Like Father Like Daughter

by ghostanimal



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/M, Next Generation, Not Phantom Planet Compliant, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-06-14 12:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15388755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostanimal/pseuds/ghostanimal
Summary: Future fanfic, No PP. Twoshot: "I don't wanna!" Maddie's heart stopped as her granddaughter's annoyed, narrowed eyes flashed a brilliant glowing green at her before the girl returned her attention back to the TV. "Sweetheart, what was that?" Part 2: "Dawn, would you like to help Grandma and Grandpa figure out some things in the lab?"





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from fanfiction, a oneshot. Danny's wife is also purposefully left vague because it's largely irrelevant who the mom is. While I did have a specific ship in mind, you can imagine her to be any of the main DP ladies. However, to be specifically clear, his wife DOES know Danny's secret.

Maddie heard the child making car noises to herself as she moved the toy car along the carpet. She smiled, glancing up from the invention she was tinkering with, a relatively harmless little gadget, just a new and improved version of a ghost detector, to see Dawn crawling a bit on her knees to reach another toy from the toy box in the living room. She opened the lid, reaching deep inside.

"What are you getting into, sunshine?" Maddie teasingly asked. The little girl glanced behind her to flash a grin at her grandmother, black hair sticking out every which way. This was despite the girl's mother having dropped her off earlier with her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. She still had the ponytail, but her hair just seemed to want to constantly stand up on end in a permanent cow lick.

"Vroom vroom," she replied, and she held up a toy airplane that she had retrieved.

She sunk to her knees again, making soft engine noises to herself as she 'drove' the plane around on the floor. Maddie smiled, and she began to eagerly screw the last bit of the ghost gadget together before standing up. She moved to put it on a shelf, out of reach of curious little hands. The invention was essentially done anyway, just in need of some testing, which would wait. Maddie sat down on the floor.

Dawn's bright eyes lit up in excitement, and she eagerly made the plane take off, hurriedly crawling towards her grandmother. Maddie opened her arms and allowed for the girl to 'crash' into her in an explosion of giggles, happily settling in on her lap.

"Uh oh, crash landing," Maddie told her, and she picked up a fire truck. "Here comes the fire department to help!"

"Grandpa would help!" Dawn added, and she wiggled to grab another toy car, one Jack had made of the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle. Maddie smiled.

"Yup, grandpa would come to make sure ghosts didn't crash the plane," Maddie replied. Dawn wiggled out of her lap and onto the floor, reaching to grab another car to come assist with the plane crash. The home was pleasantly silent as the two played.

Wednesday mornings were a special time for Maddie, where she got to be alone with Dawn, and she cherished them. On Wednesday mornings, Maddie would never understand quite how it even began, Jack would go golfing with Vlad before picking up their youngest grandson from morning kindergarten, who would join them until the other grandsons trickled in from their various after school activities. The Fenton grandparents often had a full house until their children came to pick up the grandkids. Dawn wasn't due to be enrolled in school until next year, nor eligible for any activities just yet. Had he been home, Jack would be on the floor with her and Dawn, playing with their only granddaughter and Danny's only child.

Maddie gave a small chuckle to herself at Jazz's brief jealousy when Danny and his wife found out that they were having a little girl. Jazz had five very energetic boys, and Maddie knew this energy had no limits first-handed. One of the best perks of working from home was the luxury of being able to spend a lot of quality time with her children growing up, and now, she got to watch her grandchildren grow up first hand. Well, Jazz's boys anyway.

_"Mom, I'm just not sure," Danny had said defensively. He seemed uncomfortable with the idea Maddie had proposed._

_"She wants to go back to work in the future, and we already keep the boys," Maddie replied with a frown. "Danny, it's not any problem to leave Dawn with us while you two work. We don't mind."_

_"It's not that," Danny was so hesitant. Her son was resting in his living room, laying down on the couch, a four month old Dawn sleeping happily on his chest while Maddie sat in the armchair nearby. "I-I-I, just, you know. It may not be safe for her. You and dad are so active in the lab, what if you accidentally spill something on her?"_

_Maddie tried to not take it too personally. She remembered life as a first time parent. Danny had already grown incredibly overprotective of his little girl. Even now, he kept a protective hand on Dawn's back to keep her in place, as if the infant was going to suddenly float away._

_"We wash our hands religiously, and what would it matter anyway? She's human, even if, somehow, something got onto her, she'd be perfectly fine. Any and all chemicals and liquids and gadgets we have only target and harm ghosts," Maddie lightly argued. Danny flinched, and she noticed that Danny's hand gripped Dawn's onesie, anxiously. "Danny we'd never let her into the lab anyway, and we've been keeping everything down there anyway. You know how nosy the boys are. They get into everything."_

_"Uh...just...let me think about it. And we both have to talk about it, ya know?"_

Maddie shook her head, giving a light eyeroll at the memory. Danny was so overprotective of Dawn. It was endearing, but honestly. She dreaded to see him when Dawn became a teenager. It had taken nearly two years, much convincing and a lot of promises before Danny and his wife caved, allowing Grandpa and Grandma Fenton to keep Dawn while her parents went to work during the day. It hurt a little that Danny seemed so hesitant to let his own parents keep Dawn, especially when there was not nearly as much of a fuss when the other side of Dawn's family got to see and keep her. Jack had assured her that Danny was just worried because they had such a dangerous profession, while Danny's in-laws had a much more relaxed job. Maddie had agreed, despite her heart and gut telling her it was something else.

She forced herself to put aside those thoughts as she noticed Dawn going to grab another toy from the box, this time a spaceship toy. The girl seemed to take intense fascination over it, and she sat down next to the toy box to intensely inspect the toy. It was a new addition to the toy box, Danny's when he was a kid, and Maddie gave a soft smile. She was definitely Danny's little girl.

From the couch, Maddie heard a familiar text tone. She reached out to grab her cellphone with her fingertips, pulling it closer to view the message that she was already so accustomed to getting. A message from Danny, on his lunch break, asking her how Dawn was doing. Could her son be more over-protective?

Sure enough, there it was. _Hey mom, love you. How's Dawn?_ Maddie rolled her eyes, and she sent back the same old, same old text. _Hey sweetie, Dawn's doing good._ _Love you too, have a good day._

She put her phone on the coffee table, glancing at Dawn.

"Your daddy's silly," she informed her, earning giggles from Dawn.

"Daddy fell out of a tree yesterday," Dawn told her. Maddie frowned. This never came up in conversation with Danny.

"Is he okay?" Dawn stared blankly at her. "Did Daddy get hurt?"

"No," she replied. "He missed the ground."

Maddie thought little of the statement. Dawn often said odd things. She brought it up to Jazz, who was quick to say that sometimes kids just said weird stuff that didn't make sense. Dawn's mother defended the words. Maddie had a few memories of Jazz and Danny saying odd things, as well as some of their childhood playmates, and so she brushed it off. Dawn had quite the active imagination as it stood.

She spoke often of a ghost that haunted their home, describing her as a white haired ghost that was Danny Phantom's cloned cousin. Whenever Maddie or Jack showed discomfort, Dawn was always quick to clarify that she was a good ghost, and that she played fun games with Dawn. There was also a ghost puppy that Dawn often spoke of that protected her when she felt scared by becoming a huge dog like Clifford the big red dog only he was green, as well as a giant white, fuzzy ghost with a really, really cold ice hand that often made it snow _just_ for her. There was a pretty princess ghost that turned into a dragon that would take her and her dad on magical trips to really, really old timey-times and who let her be a princess for a day once, trying on her crown and letting her sit in the royal chair. Another fuzzy ghost, this time black that she couldn't quite understand, but who was always very sweet to her and let her pet him. Dawn often reported that he was soft, and while he had sharp claws, he had never cut her, not even on accident.

Danny and his wife insisted it was the overactive imagination, and the grandparents soon agreed. A very active, if odd, imagination. It worried Maddie that Dawn seemed to think so positively of ghosts.

"Why was he in a tree?" she asked. Dawn giggled.

"Hiding from Mommy!" Maddie let out a small chuckle herself. That sounded about right. She glanced at the clock. 11:20am.

"Crash Nebula will be on in ten minutes," Maddie told her. "If you'd like to watch it, you need to pick up the toys you played with today."

Dawn's nose scrunched up, lower lip sticking out in annoyance at the idea of cleaning up, the expression being almost an identical mirror to Danny when he was her age. She looked around at all the toys she had dragged out over the course of the morning.

"I don't wanna," she whined.

"Too bad," Maddie's voice became firm. "If you'd like to switch activities, you have to clean up from your last one."

"Can I do it after?" Her lower lip stuck out further, and Dawn's eyes grew sad. A puppy dog attack, and Maddie gave a small smile.

"Then it'll never get done," she replied, tone light. She was used to the age old game of dealing with kids, and she stood up. "I'm going to go to the lab to put my own activity away." Maddie gestured to the invention she had put on the shelf. "When I come back, I expect to see all the toys put away."

Maddie picked up her invention, and she went down into the lab, closing the door behind her to prevent Dawn from wandering down. She began to put away the tools she had brought upstairs with her, as well as the invention in a proper place. Maddie picked up an ecto-gun Jack had been working on earlier, examining it to see the progress. She'd love to bring it upstairs and show Dawn, but she knew Danny would lose his mind. He had been very insistent on Dawn staying out of the lab, her daughter-in-law too.

She'd never understand that. Jazz's boys came into the lab regularly, with Jack or Maddie supervising of course. The boys had even helped with simple invention tweaking and tinkering. The Fenton grandparents even had the absolute cutest photo that Danny, ironically, had taken of Jazz's oldest mimicking Jack exactly. Jack was working on the Specter Speeder, using a wrench to tighten a bolt, and his oldest grandson was using a plastic toy wrench on his toy Specter Speeder (again, another toy Jack had created for the grandkids).

Maddie was a bit heartbroken that Danny wanted to deny Dawn the precious gift of science, engineering and family ghost hunting secrets that she and Jack had to offer. Her daughter-in-law seemed conflicted, wanting Dawn to have the experiences but also heavily mirroring Danny's worries, incredibly concerned when Jack had initially brought up that he was going to get the simple blueprints together to begin a small ghost tracker building project with Dawn, just like he had with all of Jazz's boys. Nothing they hadn't done before with a grandchild. But it freaked the parents out.

She sighed. Maybe when Dawn was a bit older. Or maybe at the next family dinner, she'd bring it up to Danny. There was nothing in the lab for him to be afraid of Dawn getting. Everything down there effected ghosts, and only ghosts. Anything that would be harmful to a human, such as some of the chemicals and gasses needed for some of the more biological side of ghost hunting and testing, was always locked away under key in a cabinet. Always had, always was. No exceptions. It was a safety rule Jack and Maddie took seriously.

Hell, Danny _himself_ grew up practically being an active participant in the lab. Yes, as he hit his teen years, some of the inventions began to target him. They were just glitches in the system, and they only ever targeted their son. Maybe he was afraid of a similar malfunction? But he was never in any true danger. The inventions, the lab, the OP center, it'd only harm ghosts. Danny knew this by heart.

Perhaps if she could get Dawn excited about it, Danny would cave. He did nearly anything and everything to make his special little sunshine happy. Maddie clearly remembered her son swearing up and down a storm as he struggled to put a background playground set of sorts together (with Ryuu, Jazz's husband, and Tucker's eventual help). Dawn was always so eager to play helper whenever Jack or Maddie needed a hand repairing the kitchen sink or the TV, an electronic toy or the Fenton RV. With her imagination focused on ghosts and the interest in repairing, she had the Fenton ghost hunting spirit in her. Maddie could just feel it.

The idea cheered her up, and Maddie finished tidying up before going upstairs to check on Dawn. She heard the TV playing, the familiar cartoon theme song playing. She entered the living room, frowning.

"Dawn," Maddie scolded, putting her hands on her hips. Dawn glanced over her shoulder at her grandmother in annoyance, scowling. "I thought I asked you to put away the toys before you began watching TV?"

"I don't _**wanna!**_ " Maddie's heart stopped as her granddaughter's annoyed, narrowed eyes flashed a brilliant glowing green at her before the girl returned her attention back to the TV.

"Sweetheart, what was that?"

Dawn's head snapped towards her with wide, thankfully baby blue, eyes. Maddie wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her. She was getting a bit up there in age-no. No. She knew what she saw.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"Your eyes," Maddie said. Her entire demeanor shifted, and she was puzzled. Dawn looked guilty, as if she was caught stealing some of Jack's fudge (again).

"I'm watching Crash Nebula," was all Dawn said, and she turned her attention to the TV. Maddie shook herself out of her shock. Eye color change or not, Dawn still did not do as asked. Maddie strolled over to the TV, pressing the power button. Dawn's eyes grew wide. "Grandma!"

"Dawn, I asked you to pick up the toys ten minutes ago," Maddie reminded her. Dawn's eyes narrowed at her, giving an angry grumble. Maddie's heart skipped a beat as the girl's eyes flashed green again in her frustration. The look on her face was so familiar, but it wasn't an expression she ever remembered Danny giving her. It was eerily familiar yet not.

"I wanna watch Crash Nebula!" she argued. Maddie frowned.

"You may watch it after you clean up," she told her. Dawn's face scrunched up again, and her lower lip trembled. Maddie gave a soft sigh, anticipating the temper tantrum to follow.

As expected, the ghost hunter soon had an angry, tearful grandchild laying on the floor face down, screaming and crying. Maddie paid it no attention, simply sitting on the couch and waiting. Surprisingly, Jazz was the one almost infamous for her temper tantrums, and Maddie always found that letting it pass worked best. She sat back, watching Dawn cry and kick her legs angrily at the air. Her hands were clenched in fists, but she held them still as she bawled. Maddie squinted. Was...she glowing?

Dawn was. She had a faint glow to her, and Maddie sat up straighter, leaning in. Was it a glow, or was it just the lighting? She did have the curtains open wide to let in light. Maddie couldn't tell, and she stood up to walk over. Dawn had calmed down by now, and there was no glow, assuming one had been present to begin with. The girl simply laid on the ground now, sniffling unhappily.

"Are you finished?" Maddie asked. Dawn just nodded. "Are you ready to pick up your toys?" Dawn shook her head no. "Then I think it's time out time." Dawn's lower lip trembled, and more tears poured. Maddie used her hand to lightly nudge her into standing up, which Dawn did very slowly and reluctantly.

Maddie gestured to the small step stool in the corner that had been unceremoniously placed there years ago when the first grandchild temper tantrum had happened, and never removed. Dawn dragged herself over to it, and as soon as she sat down, she began to cry again. Maddie sighed sympathetically. She hated punishing any of the grandkids.

"I'm going to go get started on lunch," she told Dawn. Dawn sniffled, giving a nod. Maddie stole a glance as she went to the kitchen.

From her spot at the counter, she could see Dawn. The girl was sitting still, sniffling and beginning to get upset hiccups. Lunch was just going to be a simple sandwich and chips, and Maddie broke out the needed ingredients, keeping Dawn within eye and earshot. She tore her eyes away from Dawn for less than a second, to assure she was scraping jelly properly from the jar, but she froze when she saw...an empty step stool.

"Dawn?" Maddie called out, both as a warning but also initial panic beginning to set in.

"Yes?" her voice came from the living room. It sounded like she was still in the corner, but Maddie didn't see her.

"Dawn, where are you?"

"I'm sitting!"

Maddie frowned.

"I don't see you!"

"I'm sitting!" the voice was desperate and whining, louder and more insistent.

"Where are you sitting?" Maddie asked. She tried to keep her voice calm and level, but inside, she was angry and confused. Where was she?

"On the stool!" Dawn insisted.

Maddie's eyes scanned for any signs that Dawn had gotten up and moved. Her eyes drifted over to the couch and chair, and they went back to the stool. She jumped when she saw a familiar, teary-eyed girl sitting on the stool. She put her hand to her chest. Her heart was going crazy. Maddie knew for a fact that Dawn was not sitting in the stool a few moments ago.

"Honey, what happened?" Maddie tried to keep the accusatory tone out of her voice, and she did, but she knew she sounded a bit panicked.

"I didn't move!" Dawn cried out, lower lip trembling.

Dawn was never a liar. She was almost honest to a fault, and she had never, to Maddie's knowledge anyway, lied to her before. She was a good kid, a very sweet kid. Maddie didn't know what to believe. She knew she didn't see Dawn just a moment ago. She was almost afraid to leave Dawn alone in the living room again.

"Sunshine, why don't you come help me finish making lunch?" she asked. Dawn seemed to brighten up at the idea of leaving time out early.

"Okay!" she agreed, and the girl's sour mood seemed to lift.

Maddie kept a close eye on Dawn, but nothing else happened. As normal, lunch was served and ate. As normal, Dawn offered to help clean up. As normal, Maddie got the message that Jack had finished his golf game (having lost by a long shot but as normal, he had fun hanging out with his best friend and was on his way home soon with Dawn's cousin). It was too normal now, and Maddie couldn't help but wonder what happened in the living room.

After cleaning up from lunch, Dawn was finally willing to pick up and put away the toys.

"Do you want to watch Crash Nebula on Netflix now?" Maddie offered, and Dawn's eyes lit up, thankfully still blue.

"Yes please!" she chirped, and Maddie handed her the remote. She already knew how to work Netflix, and within moments, Dawn found the familiar icon of her favorite show and began an episode. Maddie smiled, leaning over to kiss her temple, earning a small giggle.

"Grandma's going to go get something from the lab real quick," Maddie spoke up. Dawn just nodded in response, already engrossed in her activity.

Maddie disappeared down into the lab, heart and head pounding anxiously as she tried to process what exactly happened. She knew Dawn was there. But then she wasn't. Of course, it would be logical to just assume that her granddaughter had gotten up and out of time out. Kids did that all the time. But to disappear from view and return as quickly and suddenly as she had...Maddie wasn't buying it.

She shook her head, picking up the detector she had been working on earlier, also plucking a few small tools before bringing it upstairs with her. Maddie didn't want to be blind to the obvious. Her granddaughter simply had discovered lying and was doing so to avoid getting into trouble. Children did it all the time. She couldn't get caught up in the nonsensical details.

Maddie returned to see her granddaughter in the exact same spot on the floor as she had left, eyes glued to the TV.

She settled into her seat, glancing at the clock. Jack would be home in less than a half hour or so. Maddie hummed lightly to herself, turning on the invention to begin testing. The display lit up, and it began to slowly load. Soon, the main menu popped up, and Maddie began to fiddle with the options and controls she had programmed. For now, she just wanted to assure that the controls worked at the basic level, that the options all showed up and that the settings could be adjusted, that the screens lit up and that the mapping system worked as needed.

She frowned as she noticed that it was detecting a nearby ghost, as indicated by the dark green outline that was designed to alert if a ghost was within a selected radius, the default being a ten foot. Was it glitching already? How could a ghost be nearby without her noticing?

Curiosity caused her to go into an option that gave the exact location of the ghost in question. The device should be able to scan a ghost and read their ectoplasmic signature, which would give the quick answers one would need if a ghost was nearby. Was it safe, how dangerous, who was it, etc.

Her heart froze, and she sat up straight as it told her a ghost was very, very close to her, barely three feet away. Which meant it was close to her granddaughter. It had to be a malfunction. It couldn't be within three feet of her without her noticing. Maddie went to check the information the device picked up on the supposed ghost.

_Name: Unknown_

_Age: Unknown, est existence: 1wk  
_

_Pwr lvl: ERROR 412_

_Misc: ERROR 412_

Maddie's breath caught in her throat. Error 412 simply meant that there was a lack of ectoplasmic sampling to get a proper reading. But with a ghost supposedly so close? She was on high alert, and she put her hand on her hip, where an ectogun was always there, just in case. As well as the Fenton lipstick. With one hand searching for the exact pinpointed location, she stared at it in disbelief as it told her that the ghost was two point six feet in front of her, sitting in the same spot as her granddaughter.

"Dawn?" Maddie spoke up, voice almost trembling a bit in worry. Dawn scowled, twisting to look at her, and for what felt like the hundredth time that day, Maddie's heart skipped a beat.

"What!?" came the cranky voice of her granddaughter, who was glaring at her with annoyed, bright green and glowing eyes. Maddie recognized the scowl. It was the same kind of scowl and glare she saw Phantom wear all the time towards her, and those eyes were a perfectly replica of his.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Dawn, would you like to help Grandma and Grandpa figure out some things in the lab?" Dawn's eyes immediately flickered from that ominous glowing green back to baby blue in excitement over the idea of finally being allowed in the lab. She nodded eagerly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really all that good with kids. Dawn's age is just kind of vague, but she's not in school yet. Probably around 4ish? Maybe 5? I think you start kindergarten at 5. But also to be specifically clear, Danny's wife in this fanfiction DOES know his secret. Also, to clarify, Danny's about 44 in this story. Yes, that's kinda old to have such a young kid, but it'll be better explained in the story why. Also shout out to bibliophilea for helping me with ideas for the chapter.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Danny openly stared at the clock, the voices of his coworkers muffled and blending together in his mind as they were contributing. He didn't care, quite honestly, about the meeting. About the subject matter, about the business contract being negotiated, the budget cuts and additions. He wasn't even sure what the meeting was about to begin with, just that he had to be there.

He tore his gaze away to observe the man who was talking at the moment. Some older woman, he could never remember her name, but he knew that she had a husband and three grandchildren that she gushed often about. The woman was going on and on and on for what felt like forever, about things Danny could have just read in ten minutes in an email. But then it would result in the dreaded "reply all" loop of technology illiterate businessfolk trying to communicate private matters. It drove Danny nuts.

He picked up the pen and glanced at the notebook in front of him. Everybody around him had been scribbling notes like crazy, numbers and key words covering pages of the pad they were supplied with, or even on the devices or within notebooks they brought themselves. Danny had doodled a spaceship with a dog astronaut that was exploring Pluto in his. He never bothered taking notes, he didn't see the purpose. The administrative assistant always emailed everybody a copy of what happened during the meeting anyway. He sighed, bored as he began to doodle a cat alien for the dog to battle against.

Wednesdays were Danny's least favorite day. In the morning, while good old CEO Vlad Masters was out golfing with his dad, of all people (Danny could never understand how _that_ regular meetup even began, especially considering his Dad, in his neverending grace, always lost horrifically), while all the department heads had a meeting. It lasted all morning. And was followed by an all afternoon meeting with Vlad himself. Meaning, he couldn't slip away to go ghost to deal with a problem, leaving Team Phantom to pick up his unintentional slack. He did use a duplicate often, but it still left him very unable to focus properly on PowerPoint presentations about who knows what.

Danny wasn't even sure what he really did at the job half the time. Hell, if he didn't have a family, regardless of how much the other halfa had changed, he wouldn't have accepted the job offer. Damn, did it have pay beyond Danny could ever imagine making though, a generous amount of vacation time and benefits so good that even Jazz said he'd be an absolute fool for turning it down, especially since Dawn was still just on the way when Vlad had made the offer. Probably partly out of pity. The couple were making ends meet fine, but they definitely weren't living the high life in their old apartment in the not-so-great side of town. Not their fault that the town needed protecting, and that this cut deeply into work and sleeping hours.

But, especially considering the billionaire's weird midlife crisis of sorts some years back and all the therapy business he gave Jazz, Danny supposed working there wasn't so bad. Job was easy enough. He suspected Vlad just made up his job as an excuse to give him one. Danny couldn't even recall the name of his position. But in a half hour, catered lunch would be here, the only good part of the day. Then Vlad would drone for a while, and he could go home to his family.

He was already getting himself excited with his plans for the night. He was going to take Dawn to the park so they could play on Dawn's new favorite playground attraction: the jungle gym (something Danny, of course, also played on). Afterwards they were going to pick up pizza for dinner and meet her mom at home. Once Dawn was tucked in bed and a duplicate watching over her, the couple would go on their normal nightly patrol together. Dawn had surprisingly never woken up to her parents coming home, injured or walking in on them while they were bandaging up. Danny considered themselves lucky. Both of them wanted to keep the entire Team Phantom part of their lives a secret from her. There was no reason for her to have to know or understand.

Yet, despite this, despite the occasional tantrums, the exhausting pregnancy itself and the long nights of back to back ghosts with a colicky newborn, Danny was thrilled. They never thought that they could have a child. Well, meaning, they could, but the details always never added up to where it could be a reality.

He remembered that one night, a particularly bad one. The night had been full to the brim of ghosts, leaving the halfa absolutely exhausted. Even with the full support of a Team Phantom, whose membership had expanded since that first ghost fight in freshman year, he was still bloodied and bruised, barely able to stay awake when home. His new wife, the two having only been married for five months at the time, had to unlock the door to their shared apartment for him, her own body sore from the rough night. His hands were shaking so badly from exhaustion and pain.

" _Sit," she told him, and she pointed to the couch. Danny didn't have the energy to complain. He sat, and she fetched the kit for them._

_Together, they began to slowly clean themselves and each other up. Occasional quiet requests to pass burn cream or to inquire if stitches were needed. To help with an injury that was out of their own reach. Once done, neither could bother cleaning up from their first aid. Danny just shifted to lean into her, and she wrapped her arms around him in a light hug. Soon, they were laying on the couch together, silent before they began to idly chat. The subject of Jazz and her growing family came up, and a thought hit them both._

" _You know, I think I'm content with being an auntie," his wife said softly, and Danny nodded best he could. She sounded incredibly hurt, and Danny didn't blame her. Even though neither had really had their heart dead-set on children and a family of their own, it never being their biggest wish or desire, it still hurt to know that it was something they couldn't have._

" _I'd worry too much," was all he said in response. Her loose hug around him tightened. "It's too risky."_

It was unofficially decided that night, later confirmed in the following evening's conversation. The ghost fighting while pregnant, the reality that one of them may not come home one night at least half-alive, the child being a target for their enemies, and Danny's biggest concern, the inheritance of powers. Danny had the reputation for years now that he was clumsy, and he had time to master his powers and rehearse the lies and excuses.

Of course, it could never be truly confirmed unless a child came into play, but the possibilities scared Danny. Their childhood would never be normal, constantly struggling with this incredible power and all the intimate influences of ghosts and ghost hunting, saddled with the moral obligation to eventually begin protecting the city like their parents did. They could never have a truly normal life. The couple had their on and off days when it came to how they felt about the responsibility, but it would be awful to unintentionally pressure a child into accepting such a big commitment.

So they remained childless for years, until there was an accident. That's how almost all of Danny's biggest life changing events seemed to happen.

_His wife had given him a small, sly but anxious smile when she had slipped an envelope across the table towards him at their little breakfast table. It was early in the morning, but the two were still awake. Danny from ghost hunting, her from a night shift job. Danny raised an eyebrow at it, picking it up as he sipped coffee._

" _What's this?" he asked. He got a small smirk in response._

" _Open it," she encouraged him. So Danny did, and it was a father's day card. He stared at her, absolutely baffled by it._

" _Did you get me the wrong envelope?" he asked. She shook her head no._

" _Nope. I just found out a few days ago. I figured we could go ahead and celebrate now."_

_Danny's chair practically flew as he burst out of his seat. His wife was soon in his arms, both laughing as they hugged excitedly. At the time, they let themselves not worry about the questions that always plagued them. The couple decided to just enjoy the moment._

With the announcement came a whole new assortment of life changes. His wife ended up getting a new job, a better one. Vlad made his offer to Danny. That offer led them to move out of their apartment and into their first real house.

Danny watched another man contribute, droning on in the absolute most boring as fuck voice. How the man's family could stand to listen to it, he could never guess. Maybe he actually had some sort of life in his voice then though? Danny was now curious. While he was watching intently, putting up a good facade that he was paying any sort of attention, the man's voice was just muffled in his ears. God, this meeting was boring as hell. What was going on?

He stole a glance over at his neighbor's paper. Oh, they were discussing more budget stuff, numbers about increasing budgeting to more researching nano-whatevers with cutbacks they were making to uniforms because they changed sweatshops in China or something. Woooohooo.

"Mr. Fenton, you've been quiet. What are your thoughts on the matter?" Fuck, he was caught. All eyes were on him as the boring-voiced man stared at him, almost accusatory. While he did not fear for his job at all, Vlad made sure of his job security, he still squirmed a bit under the gaze. He sat up straight.

"You often know my stance. I think that we should put money towards raises," Danny pulled an answer out of his ass, giving a sheepish grin. "Money always encourages people to work harder, less motivation to leave."

The boring-voiced man still looked at him sketchily, but nodded.

"Yes, I suppose that's always an option," he said, tone a bit huffily. "So what you're thinking is when it comes to the new research budget, paying the scientists more as opposed to buying new lab equipment?" Danny felt a small bit of relief at his bullshit answer apparently being close enough to the topic to reasonably seem fitting.

"Well, depends on the need. I'd assume those scientists could give a proper answer better than I could. I don't really deal with the lab much. I think they'd also like their voice being heard and would appreciate being able to weigh the options for themselves," Danny replied. Boring-voiced man nodded in approval before beginning to drone on and on again before he was cut off by another man, who began a counter argument. Danny leaned back in his seat, sighing softly to himself as his eyes darted to the clock.

Danny noticed several other of his coworkers steal a glance at the clock, and thankfully, somebody else brought up the suggestion of taking the remaining five minutes before lunch came for everybody to sort out their notes. Danny glanced at his "notes". Maybe he should just buy a sketchbook instead of wasting Vlad's paper. Eh, who cared.

Everybody agreed, and people fell into a small explosion of shuffling and light conversation as his coworkers began to relax. Danny whipped his phone out. He scrolled to check his messages. Facebook telling him that Tucker had posted a photo of his son, Tucker Jr., a text from Jazz asking about if he and his wife wanted to do a double-date with her and her husband, a few other misc things. He ignored most of them for now in favor of going to his conversation history with his mom, sending a text.

_Hey mom, love you. How's Dawn?_

Once sent, he replied to Jazz and liked Tucker's photo. It was a simple photo of Tucker with his son, posing together at one of his son's school events. He checked his other apps before he got a reply.

_Hey sweetie, Dawn's doing good. Love you too, have a good day._

He gave a soft sigh of relief. He was just constantly waiting, worried, for the day he'd get a text asking all sorts of questions. Why is Dawn glowing? Why are her eyes glowing? Why is she flickering invisible? A part of him secretly wished Dawn did have powers. Like father, like daughter. But with great power comes great responsibility. She didn't need to be pressured into taking on such a responsibility like protecting the town. However, Dawn was growing up, and she seemed perfectly human.

Of course, Danny watched her like a hawk for any signs the second Dawn was born, constantly hovering over her (figuratively and literally) for anything. Nothing, but Tucker had pointed out that it may be a while before they began showing up, assuming Dawn had any. Jazz agreed. Vlad had suggested that Danny did a few power demonstrations in front of her, including going ghost, to see if she'd copy him. Danny did go ghost, and he flashed his eyes, turned invisible (turns out it made for the ultimate game of peek-a-boo), made her icicles and showed off glowing concentrated green energy in his hands. All it resulted in was wide, delighted and fascinated eyes, an occasional soft baby coo and, later on, eager demands for him to teach her how to do that. But of course, he couldn't if she didn't have anything to work with.

Danny broke from his thoughts as he was handed lunch. Fancy sandwich and chips, with a drink. He smiled and gave a brief thanks as he accepted it, and he began to unwrap and eat it. People around him continued to talk, but Danny tuned them out. He wasn't actively trying to be unfriendly. Just that most people around him were so much older, outside of his daughter, there wasn't much for him to really talk with them. They were borderline retirement age, often talking of grandchildren and the weather being too cold here. Another reason Danny suspected Vlad just flat out made up his job. Everybody around him was easily in their sixties, and Danny was turning forty-four soon. To his delight though, due to all the ghost fighting, he was in pretty good shape compared to the coworkers within the office around his age. When he first started, people had assumed he was younger than he really was. It was flattering.

A thought hit him, and he paused. If Dawn even had powers, would she truly be delighted in having them? Would they just be a novelty to her? Danny always feared her constantly losing control of her powers, much like he did. Jazz had thankfully been so helpful through those negative thoughts.

" _Danny, you've been a half-ghost for well over half your life now. You can teach her, assuming she even inherits ghost powers, how to control them. She'll grow up with parents who know about her powers and who will love and accept her no matter what, and even if something were to happen, would and could protect her at all costs, grow up knowing how to use and control these powers. You're also so good with the boys, Danny. Both of you are, I know you'll be great parents. You have very little to worry about. What children need more than anything is a loving and safe environment that nurtures and cares for what they need most. I have no doubt you can provide that. You save Amity Park every day."_

But tricky obstacle to also overcome was not just the unknowing, but the very realistic possibility of Dawn getting powers when at a day care and absolutely freaking everybody there. Ghost powers were a huge deal, and it wasn't worth the risk if they were discovered. Dani suggested that he stay at home with a duplicate, but Danny reminded her that this would drain him completely very quickly if he was constantly duplicated to be with Dawn and at work full time, especially since he often duplicated to go and fight ghosts when he couldn't slip away for a while. Vlad had offered, but while Danny did truly believe that Vlad had his weird little redemption arc and was practically a new man, he was still not about to trust him alone with his little girl all day. His wife would have absolutely never stood for it either. She'd actually probably kill him if he even brought up the idea as a serious suggestion.

As they were still debating what to do, his parents had come to visit the couple. Maddie had taken a seat in the living room, in the armchair. Danny was already sprawled out on the couch, his little girl snoozing happily on his chest on her stomach. He had a hand on her back, protectively, to assure that she wouldn't wiggle off, or, god forbid, this be the time she used ghost powers and floated off.

Danny had casually brought up that they had looked into local daycares when Maddie had offered,

" _Oh Danny, that's just silly. Dawn can come stay with us during the day."_

_Danny immediately tensed up._

" _Mom, I'm just not sure," he replied, and he knew that he sounded defensive. The idea immediately made him uncomfortable._

_Of course, he trusted his parents. His parents would never do anything to hurt Dawn. They absolutely adored and treasured their grandchildren, and they took great pride in the little crowd of "future ghost-hunters" as they put it. But his parents also didn't know his secret._

_"She wants to go back to work in the future, and we already keep the boys," Maddie replied with a frown. "Danny, it's not any problem to leave Dawn with us while you two work. We don't mind."_

" _It's not that," Danny replied, and it really wasn't that. What if her ghost powers activated, assuming they existed? What if they thought she was a ghost or being possessed? What if... His eyes flickered to the infant on his chest. She was making precious little noises in her sleep, oblivious to her dad's worries. "I-I-I, just, you know. It may not be safe for her. You and dad are so active in the lab, what if you accidentally spill something on her?"_

_His mom looked a bit hurt, and Danny winced. He didn't know why he didn't just tell them. There was nothing stopping him. He knew his parents would love and accept him no matter what. He had confirmation of this multiple times. But how do you even begin to bring it up? After everything they had been through as Phantom vs FentonWorks? They never dissected or destroyed him, but they had come pretty damn close on multiple occasions. How could he look at his parents, who spent so much of his life, well over half by this point, hunting his other half down, and tell them who he really was? He wasn't sure. He wasn't ready. By now, he figured he never truly would be ready._

" _We wash our hands religiously, and what would it matter anyway? She's human, even if, somehow, something got onto her, she'd be perfectly fine. Any and all chemicals and liquids and gadgets we have only target and harm ghosts," Maddie lightly argued. He flinched, and he gripped onto Dawn's onesie in worry. "Danny, we'd never let her into the lab anyway, and we've been keeping everything down there anyway. You know how nosy the boys are. They get into everything."_

_"Uh...just...let me think about it. And we both have to talk about it, ya know?"_

His grip around his drink tightened. He was...oddly very accustomed to lying to his parents. There had been many times that he had debated coming clean, from situations ranging from being so close to being dissected or experimented on while under their capture to just a heat of the moment feeling after a hard day and wanting their full comfort.

But now? How do you come clean to your parents after lying to them for over thirty years now? So much of his relationship with them was now built on a lie, how could you ever come clean from that? Recover from that? His parents could never look at him the same way again. Of course, Danny knew they'd still love him, but they'd be crushed to know how close they had been to destroying their only son, devastated at the decades of lies. Danny planned on taking his secret to the grave.

Soon, the door opened, and a familiar white-haired billionaire strolled in.

"Afternoon," he greeted the room, and everybody, even Danny, returned the light greeting. The billionaire gestured to the table still full of food. "Feel free to continue eating, I just wanted to get a small head start, see if I can end a bit earlier today."

Everybody murmured in agreement, and Vlad began to drone on and on. Annnnd now was time for Danny to completely tune out. He saw his phone screen light up on the table in front of him. It was on completely silent, no vibration, so thankfully nobody paid attention to it but him. He noticed it was a new photo message from his mother.

A smile broke, and he went to check it. He expected a cute photo of Dawn sitting in front of the TV, staring at Crash Nebula. What he got instead made his heart drop into his stomach.

A device screen's reading. While the device wasn't familiar, he recognized the general software. A ghost detector, and the words lit up on the display read:

_Name: Unknown_

_Age: Unknown, est existence: 1wk_

_Pwr lvl: ERROR 412_

_Misc: ERROR 412_

Another message came in.

_Honey something's wrong with Dawn. Ghostly wrong._

Danny's heart pounded like crazy as he frantically typed back.

_I'm on my way home. Don't do anything._

_We're pros, Danny. Dad and I are going to check her out in the lab to figure out what's wrong. Don't worry, she'll be safe._

Danny's hands were shaking uncontrollably, but he still managed to response.

_DONT DO ANYTHING IM ON MY WAY_

"Daniel, would you like to rejoin us today?"

Vlad's annoyed voice caused Danny to jump to his feet, his chair flying backwards and his coworkers staring at him.

"Vlad, there'sanemergencyIgottagoit'sDawn," was half-screamed in a blurred sentence, but Vlad seemed to catch it.

"You owe me an explanation by tomorrow morning!" his voice shouted back. To Danny's coworkers, it was a threat. To Danny, he knew Vlad probably caught on exactly what had happened, it not, was close, and that he would let it slide. But he had to keep up a face at work.

Danny zoomed down the hallways, ignoring startled gasps and concerned questions. He managed to avoid everybody as he ran out to the front door of the building. Practically slamming the door open, he made a mad run for the parking garage. He ignored his car though, instead using the isolated building as a safe place to go ghost before flying at top speed towards FentonWorks.

* * *

Maddie had stared, dumbfound at the readings until Jack had come inside. Despite rescanning over and over and over again, the device would report the same information.

"Hey Mads!" his voice boomed, and he heard it accompanied with an excited "Hi Grandma!"

Jack stepped into the living room, along with her grandson, who immediately plopped down next to Dawn to watch the cartoon. They began an eager conversation/light argument about the cooler villain in the series. Jack came over, leaning over to give his wife a kiss. She happily returned it, smiling weakly as he took a seat next to her.

"Did you get the Fenton Finder 4.0 going?" he asked curiously, snatching the invention up before Maddie could even reply. He stared at the readings given, and his face fell into an immediate pout. "Aww, you and Dawn went ghost-hunting without me?" His eyes widened a bit. "Danny's not gonna be pleased about that. He doesn't even like the idea of Dawn going into the lab."

"Jack, can I talk to you in the kitchen," Maddie asked, her voice hushed as she glanced at Dawn skeptically. Jack gave her an odd look, but nodded.

She spared another glance at Dawn, who was oblivious to the situation as she and her cousin hummed the Crash Nebula theme song together as a new episode began to play. In the kitchen, Maddie glanced once more at Dawn.

"Mads, is everything okay?" Jack snapped her out of her trance.

"Jack, that reading...," she said slowly. Maddie was slowly connecting everything that happened that day in her mind. The eyes, the sudden disappearance while she was making lunch, the glowing. The revelation was slowly making her feel sick to her stomach. "It was reading Dawn."

Jack stared at her in bewilderment before glancing over at Dawn as well. She was pumping her fists to and from the TV, imitating Crash Nebula's hand laser noises as her cousin had begun to stand up, jumping up and down excitedly as he zoomed around the living room, pretending to fly.

"Are you sure?" he questioned. Maddie reached over to push the button to rescan, adjusting Jack's hand so that he was pointing the device towards Dawn.

Within moments, the reading came back. Same as before, reporting that the ghost was barely ten feet from them, in the exact same position Dawn was sitting. Jack swallowed hard, and he watched the little girl throw her hands up in the air, making an explosion noise to copy the TV.

"Maybe it's just like Danny," he tried to reason. "He set off everything. She is a spitting image of him." Maddie shook her head, biting her lip as she put a hand to her chest, watching Dawn.

"That's not it, Jack," she whispered. "Earlier, she...she seemed to be glowing. And, when I was making lunch, she was in time out, and she...she just _vanished_ and reappeared, Jack. Out of thin air." Maddie took a deep breath. "And...her eyes. They...they glowed green. And..."

Maddie didn't know how to continue. Jack didn't speak. Both of the Fenton adults had their eyes locked on Dawn. Her cousin had lost interest in the show, having gone to get a toy from the toy box. Dawn was still glued to the screen, looking exactly like Danny did when he used to sit and watch cartoons. Baby blue eyes widely shining as she watched the spaceship take off, black hair fluffed up and fists clenched in excitement.

"Go Crash!" she squealed. Maddie exhaled deeply.

"Jack, she looked exactly like Phantom when her eyes glowed."

The statement clearly startled Jack, who broke his stare to gawk at Maddie. She tore her gaze away too to stare back at him. He was clearly disturbed by her announcement.

"Mads, that's crazy," he suddenly blurted out.

"I'm serious! The way she looked at me, she..." Maddie stole another glance at Dawn. "I'd know that face anywhere."

Silence fell over them for a while before Jack finally broke it.

"Where do we go from here then?" he asked. Maddie shrugged.

"I don't even fully understand what's going on. I don't know where to do if I don't understand," she confessed, rubbing the back of her neck as she cracked it. "I mean, to my memory, Danny never did anything like glow or have his eyes change or the like. It can't just be something that she inherited from Danny. So...what is this?"

Jack glanced anxiously towards Dawn.

"Do you think...she's a ghost?" he dared to ask. Maddie didn't answer. She didn't know herself. "We need to take her to the lab and just...check. She could be in danger." He quickly clarified, "of course, nothing dangerous. It's just...there's so many questions. Maybe we need a different scanner."

"I agree. I'm going to let Danny know," Maddie replied. She motioned for Jack to hand her the reading, and she took a picture of the reading before sending a message.

_Honey something's wrong with Dawn. Ghostly wrong._

She slipped the phone into her pocket. Jack followed her into the living room. Maddie glanced at Jack, telling him silently to pay attention as her head lightly jerked to Dawn. She reached over and turned the TV off. Dawn's face immediately fell into a scowl, and she glared up at her grandparents. Jack gasped as he saw exactly what Maddie was talking about. Glowing green eyes glared at them, and Phantom's familiar scowl was on her face.

"Grandma! Stop that!"

"Dawn, would you like to help Grandma and Grandpa figure out some things in the lab?"

Dawn's eyes immediately flickered from that ominous glowing green back to baby blue in excitement over the idea of finally being allowed in the lab. She nodded eagerly.

"Yeah!"

Jack smiled, reaching out his arms for her. She eagerly jumped up and into his arms, and he picked her up, pecking her cheek. She gave an excited giggle. Maddie felt her phone vibrate, and she checked it.

_I'm on my way home. Don't do anything._

In this instance, Maddie understood Danny's worry. He always seemed so fearful of ghosts. He seemed to always vanish and hide when ghosts came around. Great when he was a kid, and Maddie herself was fearful of his and Jazz's safety. But now, he still seemed to hold that fear and tended to run when ghosts came about.

_We're pros, Danny. Dad and I are going to check her out in the lab to figure out what's wrong. Don't worry, she'll be safe._

Maddie was startled when she got a reply almost instantly. _DONT DO ANYTHING IM ON MY WAY_ He was terrified of the situation. Not that she blamed him. She decided to not reply.

"Honey, do you want to come into the lab too?" Maddie asked her grandson, who was occupied with his toy. He shook his head.

"I wanna watch Little Einstein," he replied. Maddie nodded, and she handed him the TV remote. The boy immediately plopped to the ground in front of the TV. She pecked the top of his head.

"Stay out of trouble, if you need us just yell down, okay?" He nodded.

Jack carried Dawn into the lab behind Maddie.

* * *

_Please be okay, please be okay._

Danny prayed to himself as FentonWorks came into view. He forced himself to go faster. Despite not needing to breathe, he felt like he was choking on his anxiety as he phased in. He completely ignored the entire home, going straight for the lab.

"STOP!" he shouted, coming into view as he skidded himself to a stop in the air of the lab. As expected, within moments, both Fenton adults had an ectoblaster in their hands and pointed at him.

To his odd relief, despite his parents apparent suspicions, they still had immediately put themselves in front of Dawn, who had been previously sitting on a lab table. She had moved to stand on the table when he shouted, peeking curiously over her grandfather's shoulder and smiling brightly at him. She knew who he was, but he looked at her desperately, shaking his head slightly no. She looked confused.

"What are you doing here spook?" Jack snapped accusingly. A free hand had moved back to place a protective hand on Dawn, assuring himself that she was out of harm's way.

"What are you doing?" he demanded to know. He mentally slapped himself in the face. Stupid, stupid Fenton. Would have been a much better move to come in as Fenton, not Phantom. The Fenton adults glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

"Phantom possessing her's out of the question," Jack murmured to Maddie, but it was loud enough that Danny could catch it.

"I'd never do such a thing to her!" Danny immediately blurted out. Maddie narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why do you care? You're a ghost." Danny had no clue how to answer that. Why would a ghost care about a Fenton kid? He had no explanation.

"Grandma?" Dawn's voice spoke up quietly.

"Not now honey," Maddie quickly dismissed her, and she pressed into Jack to better shield the girl from the ghost, but she never took her eyes off of the enemy.

Danny's eyes were trained on Dawn as he saw tiny fingers grab Maddie's shoulder so she could use her grandmother as leverage so she could look over at the ghost. Maddie used a hand to lightly push her face down a bit, protectively trying to shield her. Danny's mouth felt dry, and a strange rush of excitement ran through him as he noticed Dawn's blue eyes flash green in annoyance.

Dawn stepped back, huffing annoyingly. She sat back down on the lab table, stretching her leg out wobbly as she tested if she wanted to jump the long distance (for a kid anyway) to the floor. Soon, she decided it was worth the risk, and she hopped down. The noise made Maddie jump, and she spun around to see Dawn standing on the ground. Before she could do anything, the girl darted for the ghost.

"Dawn!" Maddie cried out. To her horror, Phantom held his arms out for her, and Dawn was eagerly running to him. No, no, no! She knew that Dawn was too trusting of ghosts.

Jack opened fire. Phantom yelped as it hit him square in the chest, sending him back into the wall. Dawn stopped in her steps, staring wide-eyed. Maddie reached out to grab Dawn by the arm, to pull her back. The girl jumped in surprise, but allowed herself to be pulled out.

"Honey, that ghost is dangerous!" Maddie scolded her, pulling her close to her chest as she knelt close to the girl's level. She took note of Dawn's confusion.

"But-" she began.

"No buts!" Dawn's lower lip quivered, and Maddie pulled her into a tight, protective hug. She must be scared.

Phantom was quick to recover from the blast, already on his feet and standing on the lab floor, eyes darting from adult to adult. His hand was on his chest, some smoke and a light burn forming from where he was hit. He was half-surprised that Jack even hit him.

"Look," he began, but he stopped upon hearing the ectogun in Jack's hand began to whine as it charged.

"Jack Fenton will not allow any harm to come to this family while he is alive!" he declared, narrowing his eyes. "Take your leave, spook."

"No!" Dawn yelled, and Jack spared a slight glance to his granddaughter. The child was distressed, wiggling in Maddie's arms.

"Dawn, it's not safe!" Maddie scolded her, and she let out a gasp when Dawn slipped through her grasp. Literally.

Maddie reached out to grab at her again, but Dawn was already running for Phantom. The ghost immediately scooped her into his arms, holding her tightly, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He shifted to move so an arm was supporting her, his other resting on her back.

" _ **PUT HER DOWN RIGHT NOW!**_ " Maddie yelled, holding her ectogun up to him.

Dawn looked at her with an expression she had never seen before on her. Pure fear. Her fists had begun to clutch Phantom's jumpsuit, and Phantom had shifted his stance so that if either Fenton shot at him, it wouldn't hit Dawn. Dawn was mostly hidden from view, but she could see twin glowing green eyes belonging to her peeking from behind Phantom. Phantom looked worried more than anything else, to her surprise. The resemblance was uncanny, and it unnerved her greatly.

Maddie's confident demeanor faltered, and her lowered the ectogun a bit. Jack glanced at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Jack, we can't," she whispered to her husband. "It only harms ghosts, but..." Her eyes flickered to Dawn and Phantom. Jack returned his focus to them, and he glared.

"You better explain yourself," he demanded.

Phantom looked at Dawn, who had begun to tear up.

"Daddy, I'm scared."

Maddie nearly dropped her ectogun, and Jack looked baffled. Phantom's hold on Dawn, tightened.

"I know, baby boo." Phantom's tone became eerily familiar as he comforted the girl. "I'm sorry it had to happen this way."

Phantom locked eyes with the Fenton adults. A flash of bright light appeared at his waist, and twin rings moved opposite of each other, leaving their son in Phantom's place.


End file.
